Chapter 2

Elena's POV

I quietly slipped my hand out of his. "I must've lost it."

Damian reached for his phone almost immediately. "I'll have everyone in the family look for it. I want it found."

I shook my head.

"No. Let it go."

His expression changed instantly. A faint crease appeared between his brows.

"Let it go?" His voice lowered, almost as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Elena, do you know what that ring means? It isn't just a piece of jewelry. That ring represents the day I stood in front of the entire Blackwood family and claimed you as the one and only Donna."

The one and only?

I almost laughed.

If a man could call me his only one while climbing into another woman's bed, that kind of only wasn't worth much at all.

"It's just a ring," I said quietly. "It doesn't prove anything."

"Don't say that." His voice was low, almost serious. Damian's expression changed. He gently took my hand, his thumb brushing over the empty space where the ring had been.

"That ring was never just a piece of jewelry, Elena. It carries my name. The day I put it on your finger, I wasn't just promising to love you. I was promising the entire Blackwood family that you were the woman who stood beside me."

I looked up at him. "What if one day you betrayed me?"

He answered without hesitation. "I never would."

"I'm asking what if."

Damian met my eyes. Those gray-blue eyes were still sincere enough to make anyone believe him.

"If that day ever comes," he said quietly, "may the family's bullets be the ones to end my life. May I lose everything that comes with being Don. And may the Blackwood name never inspire loyalty again."

It was the heaviest oath a mafia Don could ever make.

Once, hearing words like that would have made me cover his mouth immediately.

I'd tell him never to swear something so terrible.

Now, I simply looked at him. As if I were listening to a very bad joke.

Damian wrapped his arms around me from behind.

There was a hint of hurt in his voice. "Baby, I feel like you've been drifting farther and farther away from me lately."

"I haven't."

"You have."

He rested his chin lightly on my shoulder. "Have I been too busy with family business? Are you upset because I haven't spent enough time with you?"

"I said no. Now let go of me."

"No."

He held me even tighter.

"Next week is our fifth anniversary. I've prepared something special for you. I promise you're going to love it."

Just then, his phone rang.

Almost instantly, Damian released me.

He glanced at the screen, and an unconscious smile tugged at the corner of his lips.

I hadn't seen that smile in six months. Relaxed. Gentle. Almost indulgent.

Too bad, it wasn't meant for me.

He quickly typed out a reply before looking back at me.

"Baby. Something urgent came up with the family. I need to take care of it."

I couldn't help asking, "When will you be back?"

Damian slipped an arm around my waist and kissed my forehead.

"I probably won't make it home tonight. But I'll be back tomorrow morning. I'll bring you your favorite blueberry cheesecake, okay?"

I nodded. "Okay."

Then he left in a hurry.

His iPad, however, was still lying on the living room couch.

I picked it up. It unlocked automatically. His messages were still synced.

Two minutes earlier, someone saved as Little Kitten had sent him a photo. She was wearing a revealing bunny costume. Black stockings. Red stilettos.

She bit her finger while smiling seductively at the camera.

Little Kitten: Daddy, I'm ready.

Damian: Missing me already?

Little Kitten: I can't sleep without you.

Damian: I thought I already wore you out this afternoon.

Little Kitten: That was hours ago.

Little Kitten: Tonight I still want to be yours.

Damian replied only three words.

Damian: Wait for me.

I slowly turned off the screen. Then I closed my eyes.

So this was what heartbreak really felt like. Not a single devastating blow, but the same wound being ripped open again and again.

I didn't know when I fell asleep. All I remembered were endless dreams of Damian tangled together with that woman.

Buzz—

My phone vibrated. A video had arrived from an unknown number.

I tapped it open. The man in the video was Damian.

He held the woman tightly. The desire in his eyes was so unfamiliar that I barely recognized him.

There was no sound. Yet my ears rang all the same.

A message appeared moments later.

Have you ever seen your Don like this?

He says he's only truly relaxed when he's with me.

The video ended. Then automatically started over.

I didn't stop it. I watched it again and again.

I forced myself to remember every second. To remember who this man really was. Only then could I bury the last piece of love I still had for him.

My attorney had already prepared everything.

I placed the documents inside a black gift box and tied it with a ribbon. There was a Divorce Agreement, along with an inventory returning every item that symbolized authority and status within the Blackwood family.

The moment I signed those papers, Elena Blackwood would no longer be part of the Blackwood family.

Damian came home around noon the next day. He was carrying my favorite blueberry cheesecake.

"Baby. I kept my promise. Look. Isn't this your favorite bakery?"

I simply nodded. "Mmm."

Only then did Damian notice my red, swollen eyes. He cupped my face and gently wiped away the tears still clinging to the corners of my eyes.

"You've been crying? Who upsets my baby? Tell me. I'll make them pay."

He still carried the scent of another woman's perfume.

Even the lingering warmth of someone else's embrace seemed to cling to him.

I took a step back. Avoiding his touch.

"No. I just watched a movie last night. The ending was sad. "

Damian immediately pulled me back into his arms.

"Don't watch movies alone anymore. Wait for me. I'll watch them with you."

Watch them with me?

I almost laughed.

His time, day and night, belonged to another woman.

Did he really have any time left for me?

Then Damian noticed the black gift box sitting on the coffee table. His eyes lit up.

"Is this for me?"

I nodded. "You said you had a surprise planned for our anniversary. So I prepared one for you too. "

He smiled like a boy who had just received the perfect present.

"Can I open it now?"

I gently shook my head. "No. Wait until our anniversary. Open it that day."